When most people go to a bar, they take care to tip the bartender and/or the wait staff. But for many people, that courtesy seems to go out the window when someone else is picking up the tab, as guests assume that the tip has also been taken care of (or just don’t think about it at all). But are they making the right assumption? [More]

Waiting tables can sometimes be a thankless slog, especially if diners choose to go light on the tip. But a waiter at a Houston restaurant is reaping the rewards of years of good service after a pair of loyal customers left him with a $5,000 tip for a bill that had only totaled $26.95. [More]

You say to-may-toe and I say to-mah-toe, and in the case of a waitress suing law enforcement, she says $12,000 is a miraculous tip and they say it’s drug money. Oh, and there is no tomato involved. So who’s right? After all, says the waitress, she tried to return the tip to the customer and was told to keep it. All’s fair in the food industry, after all. [More]

If you’re looking to give people a reason to drop a dime (or preferably a dollar) in that tip jar, how about turning the whole process into a popularity contest that taps into your customers’ inner comic book fan boy/girl? [More]

For a lot of people in various facets of the service industry, this time of year means that some customers will brighten up your holidays with a gift or a tip to show their appreciation. But new numbers from our surveying siblings at Consumer Reports break down which particular people get the most end-of-year love. [More]

Now is the time of year when some people choose to add to the holiday cheer by leaving a little extra something out for the folks — doormen, mail carriers, garbage collectors — who make their lives easier during the other 49 weeks of the year. And if you’re going to hand out tips during the holiday season, there are some things you can do to make sure you’re doing it properly. [More]

If you’re the type of person who would almost rather donate something than deal with the stress of returning it, our expert shopping companions at Consumer Reports have put together 5 steps that you can take to make the process a bit more manageable. Some are obvious, but you only have to read our tipline for a day to realize that obvious strategies are often the most frequently overlooked. [More]

Steve has no problem with the mandatory 18% tip included in the bill for parties of eight or larger at Dave & Buster’s. He does, however, have a problem with getting charged 18% for mediocre service for a dinner party of seven, not eight. Maybe most diners are having too much fun to notice that there isn’t an invisible eighth guest at their tables. [More]

Earlier this week, a writer for the San Jose Mercury News posted a story claiming that wait staff and high-end restaurants in San Francisco are behind a move to make 25% tips standard across the city. But is this actually true or just hype? [More]

Here’s a tip for everyone, but especially those in the food service field: Even if you’re pretty certain that a female customer is pregnant, you might want to not mention it, lest you end up stiffed on a tip and the recipient of an angry note. [More]

Chlorine gas was used for chemical warfare during World War I. You can make it easily in your own home by accidentally combining chlorine and ammonia in a misguided effort to boost cleaning power. Aren’t you clever? [More]

As someone who travels red eyes coast to coast for weeks for business meetings, Jeanniey knows a thing or two about getting through security with the least friction. She tells NYT that one thing she discovered, the hard way, was that you don’t want to dodge from eye contact with the security workers. [More]

Anyone who’s worked on a wait staff looks at their dining out experiences in a totally different way than the uninitiated. Understanding the pressures and perspective of servers can give you a deeper understanding of how to handle disappointments. For starters, you realize that customers have just as significant a role as servers in making it a pleasant dining experience. That’s what I’m told, at least. Full disclosure: My food industry working experience is restricted to one hellish day working at a student union Chick-fil-A. [More]

Some employees at a famous restaurant NYC’s Central Park got so fed up with the way they were being treated by their bosses that they took matters into their own hands and began secretly tape-recording workplace conversations. [More]